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Record-breaking temperatures and months of severe drought have fueled a series of massive bushfires across Australia. New South Wales has been the worst-hit state so far, with more than 12 million acres and 1,300 homes burned. Thousands of people are seeking shelter from the fires. Approximately 130 fires are burning in the bush, mountain forests and national parks throughout the state as of January 15, 2020. Due to the prolonged drought and strong winds, conditions are primed for the fire to spread rapidly. To put the New South Wales fire damage into perspective, about 2.2 million acres were lost in the 2019 Amazon fires and around 1.9 million acres were burned in the 2018 California wildfires. Maxar’s Open Data Program imagery efforts will be focusing on New South Wales as this area has been hit the hardest.

When crises like this occur, Maxar is committed to supporting the humanitarian community by providing critical and actionable information to assist response efforts and fulfilling our purpose, For a Better World. As part of our Open Data Program, Maxar will publicly release data of the affected areas to support disaster response as it becomes available.

Any imagery or data distributed through the Open Data Program is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 license (CC BY-NC 4.0). This licensing allows for non-commercial use of the information, meaning it can quickly be integrated into first responder workflows with organizations like Team Rubicon, the Red Cross and other non-profits. If commercial companies are interested in using the data distributed through the Open Data Program, it can be purchased by contacting us here.

Imagery has been posted on our Open Data Program website. Please continue to check this site and our social media channels for updates on pre- and post-event data.

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